The Elf Wars
by TheJaggid
Summary: With Lumine defeated and the Sigma Virus still floating around, the Hunters are faced with a new foe that will put to work the events after the X series. This is the story of the end of the Maverick Hunters.
1. Lunar Struggle

The story is based around the events of _Mega Man X8_ and _Mega Man X: Command Mission_. Since _X8_ chronologically comes before _Command Mission_, the story will begin right after its ending events.

If you haven't yet played _Mega Man X8_ and don't want to know what happened at the Lunar Base, I recommend you don't read this story.

_-_

_Since the beginning of time, humans have dreamed of the power of a God, the power of creation. Two scientists realized that dream when they created the first humanoid being, a robot. One of the scientists received all glory for the creation and as, the other became corrupt with jealousy, a war ensued between the two. Good and light against evil and wile. _

_In pursue of the power to defeat the other, both sought a more powerful human-like being, one that would be able feel and think for themselves, just like humans. They started their own projects to create these beings, projects that their bodies wouldn't be able to see through. The light scientist made a being based on his greatest creation: a replicant humanoid stronger than anything he ever made, so strong that even he feared it. The wile scientist made a being based on his very first creation: a replicant humanoid built as a war machine and equipped with the power to corrupt the other._

_It is unknown why these two __**repl**__icant human__**oids**__ never fought as they should've, but both awakened nonetheless._

Zero awoke.

"Wh...what..." He was surrounded by pitch-black space, nothing else, no stars, no light. The only thing he could see was his own armor-covered body which at the moment was giving its own mystical glow.

"Zero!" said a cruel and scratchy voice.

"Who's that?" Zero asked, looking around furiously. His words echoed around the room, slowly fading away and then shouting back at him again.

"You already know who I am, fool!"

"...That voice."

"That's right, me."

"No...I still don't remember you..." As Zero tried to think, a short and shadowy figure began to appear in his head.

"Hahaha, a son should never have trouble remembering his father!"

"His...son...?"

"Foolish son...it doesn't matter. Soon you'll know everything, and then you'll be back under my control to see me rise against the world once again!"

"Against the world? Wait..._you!_"

"It begins today!" The room instantly went white and Zero's eyes were forced to a close.

_Now the two scientists live on in different forms to make sure their greatest creations do what they were meant to._

_One would give birth to a new era of terror. _

_The other would end it._

**-**

**The Elf Wars**

**-**

Chapter 1 - _Lunar Struggle_

"YOU!" Zero sprang out of his capsule. He woke up to his regular room in the Maverick Hunters Base, not a dream this time. He looked at the door in front of him, the place he first saw the man he just talked to.

"Zero?" called out a voice inside of Zero's head.

"Who's there!" shouted Zero, he drew out his saber and got it in stance.

"Calm down, it's me." Layer was speaking to him through radio. "Are you okay? We could here you from here!"

Zero lowered his saber and quietly looked around the room. The shadowy image of his father returned to his mind.

"Zero?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I was just having a bad dream."

- - - - -

"Zero, everything okay?" X was waiting in front of the door to the Teleport Room. "I could hear you yell from my room."

"Everything's okay," said Zero as he walked by him.

"Okay..." They both stepped into the room and the topic ended just like that.

"Had a good night's sleep, X, Zero?" said Alia. She was typing into a large computer near the door.

"Yeah, you Alia?" said X.

"I didn't go to sleep."

"Alia's been working all night!" called out Pallette cheerfully, she was sitting next to Alia.

"I'm trying to figure out what happened to Sigma at the Lunar Base," said Alia, not looking up from her work.

"We already told you, he was blown to pieces by us and then crushed by Lumine," said Zero.

"I know, I mean-" Alia stopped her work for a second. "I'm trying to figure out what happened to Sigma's virus. Every time you were able to defeat Sigma, his virus would escape from his destroyed body and infect another reploid, which is how he's able to come back every time." Her eyes shifted back to the computer screen and she began typing again.

"Go on..." said Zero.

"Well, this time there was no one at the Lunar Base for Sigma to infect to. You guys, Axl, and Lumine were the only ones left at the base when Sigma was destroyed," she continued.

The trio made an agreement before the mission to Lunar Base that the third member of the three would destroy any leftover mechaniliods that the first two didn't destroy. This was to make sure that no maverick would be left standing after they were done.

"Besides, according to your descriptions, it didn't look like Sigma would've even had enough energy to release his virus after being so thoroughly destroyed by Lumine." She paused again for a moment. "I think this is might actually be the end of the Sigma Virus."

X and Zero looked at each other, astonished. Pallette and Layer looked at each other hopefully. The two navigators didn't really understand what incredible news this was to the two Hunters, who had been trained under Sigma's wing when they had just joined the Maverick Hunters. It was Sigma who had taught them to become such powerful Hunters and who had tested their will time and time again, year after year. To them, it was not only the final, true death of their greatest enemy, but of their ex-mentor, ex-leader, and ex-friend.

"I hope so..." said X, looking away from Zero and down at Alia. "This means the end of Sigma's terrorist attacks. He's finally paid for the millions of lives that he taken." X looked away from Alia and instead stared at the ceiling. He wore a smile but his eyes looked thoughtful.

"Yeah, retribution," said Zero.

"So how's Axl?" asked Pallette, she got up from her seat and stood behind Alia and her computer.

"He's still unconscious, but he'll be up again by this afternoon, hopefully."

"He's still not up?" asked Layer, she said it worriedly and looked at Zero for some reason.

"It's not so easy to fix a broken crystal you know," said Zero. "I still remember when I was recovering from my broken crystal, back when I just joined the Hunters."

X looked at Zero in shock, Zero returned him a quizzical look.

"_Wasn't Sigma the one that broke his crystal..._" thought X.

An alarm sounded and the whole room began flashing red. Alia's computer monitor changed.

"No!" shouted Alia.

"What's wrong?" asked X.

"I didn't save any of my work!" she said.

"...What about the alarm?" asked Zero.

"Um..." Alia searched around her monitor. "Maverick activity at...the Lunar Base!"

"What!" shouted Zero he ran behind Layer and Pallette, pushing them aside.

"Hey!" yelled the two.

"The readings are coming from..." Alia stopped and no one spoke. The alarm could still be heard yelling every other second. "The same area you faced Sigma and Lumine."

"...Damn, it's Sigma isn't it...?" said Zero in a disgusted tone. Beeps were heard from Alia's monitor.

"...No. It's someone different."

- - - - -

The Lunar Base was left unchanged since the Hunters' last arrival. It appeared that no one had made plans for a visit since the last incident.

"It's just as quiet as before..." said X.

"How can Alia even tell it's a Maverick when it's not doing anything?" asked Zero. He unexpectedly began running ahead. X dashed to catch up.

"The readings said his DNA had traces of Sigma's Virus. For now they think his only priority is to escape Lunar Base."

"Okay, so we'll catch him during his escape and destroy him so the Sigma Virus will have to leave his body again. But what if there are still other reploids around?"

"Well...then we'll have to..."

"Destroy them all...?"

"...Let's hope it doesn't come to that...there!" X and Zero had only reached their destination halfway when something appeared before them. It had an unusually slender body that seemed to be made of liquid energy and had a head with two horns like an ox. Its body looked as if it were crumbling apart.

"Sigma!"

-To Be Continued...


	2. Lunar Struggle II: NexGen

Disclaimer- Any and all characters portrayed in this story do not belong to me, yet.

-

Chapter 2 - _Lunar Struggle II: NexGen_

Sigma's body stood in front of the two Hunters. X and Zero looked at him with angry expressions while he looked at them with a look of surprise.

"The Maverick Hunters? How did you know I was here?" said the reploid. The voice came from his body but the lips didn't move. It wasn't even possible to tell where the lips were.

"...You're not Sigma...!" said Zero. "You sound nothing like him!"

"Indeed. I'm nothing like Sigma." The voice came from somewhere inside Sigma's body.

"You look just like him!" said X mockingly. A small shadowy body became visible inside Sigma. Suddenly two eyes flashed on its head.

"A New Generation Reploid?" said Zero, both to X and the impersonator.

"No. A 'Next' Generation Reploid. I am but the first of the series." Sigma's body then got into a punching stance. "But I'm still more than enough to demolish the both of you."

He lurched forward at tremendous speed, knocking both X and Zero onto the ground. The two jumped back on their feet and got their weapons ready. X's buster was humming violently and Zero's saber sizzled in the air.

"Next Generation Reploid or not, we'll still destroy you, Maverick!" said Zero. X nodded in agreement.

"You'd hit a child? My, the Maverick Hunters are more ruthless than I was told. I hope you two think about that as I crush you both into scrap!"

The child jumped into the air above the Hunters. X shot a charged attack, stopping the Sigma body in mid-air. Zero jumped after the Sigma body and sliced the neck. The Sigma body merely punched Zero back to the ground.

"What!" said Zero, getting back on his feet.

The body pointed to his neck, to the odd liquid energy. Zero immediately understood.

"We have to destroy the parts that are actually solid, X," he said.

"I know," said X.

The Sigma body had already landed back on the ground and was walking slowly towards the two. X began shooting and Zero dashed forward.

"It's no use," said the child, he dodged Zero's first strike and some of X's attacks. "As long as I have this body, neither of you can kill me."

After a second, failed attempt, Zero finally landed a strike to the Sigma body's shoulder and stabbed his saber into his stomach.

"AAHH!" yelled the child. He punched Zero up into the air and took out the saber that was stabbed into him. He began running after Zero's airborne body to gain momentum and held the saber in a harpoon-ready position. Zero was spinning in the air too quickly to notice what the Sigma body was doing, but X realized it immediately, and shot at him furiously.

"_C'mon, C'MON!_" he thought. But the shots were not enough to stop the kid's plan. The child speared the saber at Zero, landing it perfectly into his chest.

"_What...?_" thought Zero. He looked down at the pain in his chest and found his saber planted there. "_My...saber!_"

He hit the floor and reached for the hilt of his beloved weapon with trembling hands.

"_No...your not...meant...to kill...me!_" he tried to pull the saber out, but found himself out of energy and stopped moving entirely.

"Zero!" X shouted. The kid started laughing hysterically.

"What a weakling this Sigma must've been to be destroyed by the two of you! A single attack and one of you is down for the count!" The child then looked at X. "Your turn!"

"You...!" X looked down at his buster and his armor-less body. "If only...!" He'd forgotten to prepare his Ultimate Armor.

The Sigma body ran at him and X unloaded a charged buster shot at his stomach. The body just stopped in its tracks for a split second and proceeded to ram into X. X kept on his feet and began unloading more shots at the Sigma body, dashing around to keep his distance from his attacks.

"Gotcha!" the child shouted gleefully. X's back ran into a wall. He just realized that he wasn't even paying attention to where he was dashing; the child must've been leading him to this the entire time. The Sigma body then got his arm ready to punch X.

"No you don't!" X jumped onto the wall and wall-dashed into the Sigma body, knocking him to the ground. He walked over him and pointed his buster to the Sigma head. "This ends now, 'Next Generation Reploid!'"

"You'll have to kill me to end it!" said the kid. His voice showed no fear.

"_Zero...!_" thought X. "So be it!"

X shot. A large cloud of smoke gusted out from the ground, making X back away from his victim. He kept his buster pointed down to where he last saw the Sigma body. Finally, the smoke disappeared from view and so did the Sigma body.

"So weak!" said the voice behind X.

- - - - -

"X," said a calm and kind voice.

X awoke.

He was surrounded by pitch-black space, nothing else, no stars, no light. The only thing he could see was his own armor-covered body which at the moment was giving its own mystical glow.

"Light..." said X, half-conscious, half-asleep.

"Sorry, I can't do anything about this. It seems darkness and your own inner-light is customary of every dream," said the voice.

"No...not that..." said X.

"Hohoh," said Light, actually managing to sound like Santa Claus. "I'm sorry, X. How's your head?"

"It feels dizzy."

"That's alright, I'm sure your friends will have that fixed in no time."

"What am I doing here?"

"I needed to tell you something, X."

"What is it, Doctor?"

"X!"

"Huh?"

"X! Wake up already!"

"Who's...?"

X woke up in his normal room. Axl was standing next to him.

"Finally! Alia said you'd be awake an hour ago! What's taken you?" Axl said. Despite his worrisome words, he didn't seem worried at all.

"Axl, you're alive? I mean- you're awake!" said X, his vision was just beginning to focus itself, but he could already tell it was Axl.

"Yeah, for like two hours. Most annoying hours of my life. All this 'How are you, Axl?' this and 'Are you sure you're okay?' that. What's with everybody?" he said.

"I'm sure they're just worried. I was about to ask you the same thing. Reploids with their crystals broken don't usually recover in just 2 days."

"Yeah, well I'm a _New Generation_ Reploid. A broken jewel's nothing to me."

"You were still out for two days."

"Ah, whatever!"

"Seriously, you sure you're okay? You seemed really out of it after Lumine knocked you out."

"Yeah, I'm fine. But my doctor says he wants to check up on me every day. And check this out-"

Axl lifted his arm to reveal an unusual pearl white stain on a red part of his armor.

"They tried spray painting over it, but it just keeps reappearing."

"Weird..." An image of Lumine popped into X's head.

"C'mon, lets go meet up with the others."

Another image suddenly popped into X's head.

"Where's Zero!" he shouted. His head began spinning suddenly.

"Um...he's under care...But Alia said there shouldn't be any reason to worry. She said that he'll be up and running again faster than I was..." X quickly calmed down and began laughing. "I swear, you guys worry too much..."


End file.
